674
The Green Bag
and retained to uphold the Constitu tion of the United States of America,
and give A. Vagabond, from nowhere
The evidence was wholly circum stantial. The accused strenuously insisted that
he was not guilty, and seemed especially confident of his innocence because the
in particular, indicted burglar of post ofiice funds, the constitutional “assist— ance of counsel for his defense."
government had been unable to produce
After a careful examination of the
a witness who had actually seen him
record in the case, and especially of the
take the money or enter the building.
testimony taken before the grand jury, which was quite full and complete, Johnson interviewed his precious client
to make it safe to put him on the stand
at the county jail.
He somehow expected to find in A. Vagabond a green alien with a limited knowledge of the English language. He found a young man of about twenty two, with fiaxen hair and blue eyes, but no other foreign indication except an accent with a slight rising inflection, and an unmistakable name which surely was not written “Amos Vagabond" in his baptismal record, whatever name this record may disclose. It seems that Amos Vagabond was
His story was just sufliciently plausible as a witness in his own defense. There was a chance to argue his possible innocence, by resolving all doubtful and contradictory evidence in his favor. There was a bare possibility of his innocence, but probability.
hardly
a
reasonable
The community surrounding the Slab town post-office and church where the robbery occurred was against
Vagabond to a man.
Amos
Everybody was
satisfied of his guilt and felt outraged at the notoriety and disgrace he had
of the second generation, native-born,
brought upon them. There were no witnesses to be had that would help
and spoke English better than his father's tongue. It developed that he
him on the facts. The one point in his favor was that
was short on relatives but had a mother somewhere who no doubt still prayed for her “wandering boy.” He was just an average clodhopper from the country, a. ne’er-do-well, not particularly bright,
he had been in that particular locality six or eight months stopping with
a Vagabond who wandered from place
The fact that he was only derelict in the neighborhood, and practically
to place. He worked at farm labor, frequently changed employers, and at this time was "broke” and literally without friends.
He was possessed of a certain cunning, and his bump of obstinacy was most abnormally developed. It is probable
various people, and no charge of wrong doing had ever been brought or suggested against him.
the only member of the community who
was not attending religious services at the near-by church that Sunday morning when the robbery took place, first caused suspicion to point his way. Then it developed that he was seen
that he never was caught or accused
loitering near the post-office during
before, and this was evidently his first serious lapse.
church time.
He had become accustomed to jail life, having had six months of it awaiting his “speedy trial" which the Constitu tion guarantees him.
and their appurtenances. There was the church and the combination post office and preacher's residence. The dispenser of letters and gospel was one
Slabtown consisted of but two houses
